


I'll Take Care of You

by Primarina (sherlockstummy)



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Food, Food Kink, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nothing Hurts, all food applies, not at the end anyways, what is even that tag lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9417476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlockstummy/pseuds/Primarina
Summary: It started out as a joke, a bit, a game.And then, suddenly, it wasn't any of those anymore.





	

It started out as a joke.

“I’m gonna get you fat, Daniel.” Arin wriggled his eyebrows at his newfound friend over Skype.

Dan snorted, trying to stifle his giggles. “Fuck, man, I’ll just look like I swallowed a playground ball.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” Arin asked, chuckling. The one thing he really loved about Dan was how contagious his laughter was. 

Dan rolled his eyes, then his tone changed. “Shit, man, it’s fucking waaayyy past my bedtime.”

“Goodnight, old man,” Arin said in a comically monotone voice, sticking his tongue out afterwards.

Dan gave him the finger, the meaning of which was ruined by the smile plastered to his face, and ended the Skype call.

Arin closed his laptop with a smile and went back to work.

~

Arin cared about his friends. Anyone who knew him could attest to that. He was loyal to a fault, and would drop anything for one of his loved ones. And yes, you could call them that. Arin only kept a small circle of friends, but those in it never doubted that he loved the shit out of them, and would do anything he could for them if they were in trouble, or were just having a bad day and needed to vent.

Arin also totally didn’t have any kinks. Nope, none. And especially not some kind of food kink. Hey, c’mon, part of being a good friend was making sure your friends didn’t starve. …right? I mean, that was what growing up in the South had taught him. Food was good, the larger the portion the better, and food was how you showed you cared about somebody. That wasn’t wrong, or kinky. No, definitely not.

“Dude, aren’t you gonna finish that?” Arin found himself saying before he could think about it. Part of his brain went: oh shit, and he resisted visibly biting his lip.

Luckily, Danny laughed his sunny little laugh. “Nah, I’m full, man. It’s cool.”

“If you’re sure…” Arin wasn’t sure he believed the other man, since there was still plenty of sushi left on his plate. But he reminded himself that Dan was literally only a few hours off a cross-country flight, and being tired had a really sneaky way of messing with your appetite.

As if to prove Arin’s thoughts correct, Dan hid a yawn behind his long fingers. “Ah, sorry. ‘M a little jetlagged.”

“No, no, I understand,” Arin reassured him quickly. “I’ll drop you off.”

“Thanks, man. And thanks for showing me around.”

“Thanks for humoring me through your jetlag.”

Dan smiled, a little sleepily. “Of course, man.”

Arin felt a little flutter of excitement in his chest, though he wasn’t quite sure why.

~

“I’ve got a weird stomach thing.” Dan said, without looking up from his laptop. He and Arin are just hanging out, not really doing anything in particular, just enjoying each other’s company. Now that they’ve been able to hang out in person, they really jive more like old friends than new ones. The company they keep is stupidly easygoing.

“What?” Arin hadn’t really been listening, his mind elsewhere as he sketched.

But Dan repeated himself without fuss, without even a hint of ire. “I’ve got a weird stomach thing. It stops me from really eating too much. I get pretty nauseous, and I get terrible pains sometimes.”

“That sucks,” Arin said genuinely, looking up at Dan from where he’s splayed on the floor on his stomach. “I’m really sorry, man.”

Dan shrugged, a small smile on his lips. “It’s okay. I manage. I just didn’t want you worrying too much.”

That makes Arin blush for some reason. Maybe it’s because someone actually noticed that he fusses at people to eat, and it makes him wonder how many other people have noticed and are too polite to be blunt. It makes him worry that Dan thinks he’s weird, or is somehow against skinny people, like how some assholes tell skinny girls to “go eat a cheeseburger” on the internet.

But Danny just elegantly stretches, grunting as his back cracks, and sinks down deeper into the padded sofa cushions. He catches Arin’s worried look and smiles again, wrinkles at the corner of his eyes crinkling merrily in a way that, strangely enough, reminds Arin of descriptions of Santa Claus he remembers being in books when he was younger.

Dan isn’t upset, or weirded out. He was being genuine, just worried about Arin worrying.

“Okay,” Arin said finally, his voice feeling small all of a sudden.

Eventually, they decide to watch a movie, and both of them forget about their conversation.

~

Arin thinks that Danny should be more careful if he wants to remain not fussed over.

It’s one of those chill days when the Grump couch is ripe with stories from the heart and honest true-to-life stuff, and Arin has just learned that his friend has a tough time remembering to eat when he gets “in the zone.” Danny used the term “hyperfocused,” which sounds like some psychological bullshit…but Arin feels it applies even to himself. He does often get lost in his work and forgets to eat. 

But he has Suzy to make him a sandwich at lunch and call him to dinner. Dan doesn’t have anyone like that. (And why does Arin have this insane desire to be that for him???)

What’s actually the problem now is that Dan’s stomach just growled loud enough for it to be picked up by the mics, though they’re not actually in the middle of recording a game right now, so the fans won’t know. But Arin knows. Which is a problem, because Dan basically specifically told him not to fuss.

“Hungry, dude?” Is what Arin says as he pretends to be super focused on changing out the cartridge. 

“Oof. Yeah, man.” Danny leans back on the couch, one hand carding through his hair and the other hanging limply at his waist. He’s been hungry since they started the session over an hour ago, but they’ve been filming. And besides, it would’ve been rude of him to ask if he could raid Arin’s fridge. If you’re a guest, you wait to be offered. Common courtesy.

“You wanna go for a sandwich, or something?” Arin turns his head around to look at Dan. His mind wanders. Did Danny eat yesterday? Had he even eaten breakfast? Why didn’t he ask if Arin had snacks available? That was basically what his pantry was for, after all.

Arin told himself that the reason he was asking himself all sorts of invasive questions that he had no answers to was because Dan had basically admitted that he was the embodiment of the “forgets to eat” TV Trope. Totally not because Arin was obsessed with Dan’s eating habits. Certainly not because Arin liked seeing Dan with a mouthful of food, a content smile after a meal.

Nope. Not at all.

Dan perked up slightly. God, he looked like a ragdoll. He felt like a ragdoll, too, if he was honest. Shit, had he actually forgotten to eat breakfast today? Or had he actually just not eaten enough? He tried not to think about it; thinking about it made his head swim. “Do we have time?” He asked, trying his best not to sound hopeful. His stomach rumbled under his hand; sandwiches clearly appealed.

“Yeah, of course!” Arin shot up from his seat. “We all gotta eat sometime! Might as well be now.” He reached for his keys. “I’ll drive. You in the mood for anything in particular?”

“O-okay?” Dan pushed himself up from the soft couch cushions. It was really easy to just relax while he was with Arin. The younger man made him feel blissfully happy, so much that his presence just made sunshine burst under Dan’s skin. It was a really nice feeling. “I don’t care where we go, honestly.” As long as I get to eat, he thought, but didn’t say. He didn’t want Arin to worry.

“Cool. I know this really great sub place.” Arin was practically pushing him out of the door, and Danny had to laugh.

Being friends with Arin was so easy. Easy like Sunday morning.

~

It started as a bit, just like everything did with them.

“Parmesan!” Dan sang along with the tune for changing the wind. He realized in half a second that he’d just fucking done that, and quickly followed up with: “I’m hungry, I’m hungry. There was no reason for that other than that it’s seven PM, and we are ready for dinner.” He hoped that was the case, anyway. He hated being the stereotypical “skinny guy who's always hungry” in his group of friends. (Even though it was just because he couldn’t eat all that much at one time, and not because of a high metabolism, or anything like that.)

Luckily, Arin was right there with him: “Oh yeah. Oof. A nice, like, chicken alfredo…”

“Oh, God, don’t make me hungrier,” Dan half-pleaded, half joked. He was honestly scared his stomach was going to audibly growl and that the mic would pick up on it while they were actually filming. How embarrassing.

But Arin had a sort of mischievous grin on his face, watching Danny out of the corner of his eye even as he played. “With fresh grated parmesan cheese on top…”

“Aaaahhhh!” Dan complained, his mind already filling with images of the delectable dish Arin had described. He could see it clearly, could smell it, could almost taste it… His mouth was starting to water. They needed to change the subject.

But Arin had found an opening. And he was clearly going to milk it for everything it was worth. “Like, those thick strands of parmesan…”

Dan closed his eyes, and for a moment, he saw it exactly. All his senses took in the glorious image. God, get in my belly right now, he thought, licking his lips. “Just sprinkled, slightly melted cheese on top…” He peeped at Arin when he breathed out a soft: “ah, fuck…”.

If this little tease went on any longer, then both of their stomachs would be audibly rumbling, and neither of them would be able to focus. There was still five minutes of the episode left, which would seem a whole lot like forever if they were both dreaming of pasta. 

So Dan did the only thing he knew how to do: turn the whole thing into a dick joke. “Arrrrrghh…I just wanna fuck it!” 

Arin huffed out a surprised laugh. “Ah, I mean, whooaaaa.”

“I mean, uh, I’m sorry, I got my desires mixed up.” Dan admitted in a slightly self-deprecating manner. Luckily, the distraction worked; he and Arin finish the episode without any complaints from their empty stomachs.

Afterwards, though, after the capture has been turned off, and Arin got up to turn off the Wii, Danny starts thinking about pasta again, and his belly groans, churning up all the acids down there that haven’t had any food to digest since the five or so pretzels Dan had snacked on earlier during their recording session. “Oh, fuck. I really wanna get pasta now,” he complained, checking his phone.

“Ohh, fuck, man, me too,” Arin replied, running a hand over his stomach contemplatively. “D’ya wanna just, like, go to a diner or some shit?”

“Oof, can we, please?” Danny stood up, stretching. “God, my stomach is fuckin eating itself…” His brain immediately brought his thoughts to a screeching halt. What the fuck had he just said? You idiot, he thought, mentally slapping his forehead. That’s exactly the opposite of what you say if you don’t want your friend worrying about your eating habits.

Thankfully, though, Arin is just as hungry. “Mine too. Holy shit.” He tossed Dan’s jacket at him. “C’mon, man. I know this really awesome Italian place.”

It’s only later as Dan is driving home, stomach toasty warm and comfortably padded with truly delicious chicken alfredo-as promised-himself carbs-dozy and content, that he remembers Arin has a wife. What about Suzy? What did she do for dinner? Shouldn’t Arin have eaten with her?

His slight panic passes, though. He’s honestly too full and sleepy to care very much. It’s Arin’s problem, anyway, not his. 

And if Dan’s insomnia doesn’t bother him in the slightest that night, it’s totally not because he ate more than he would normally under Arin’s watchful gaze.

And it’s definitely not because of Arin’s warm and somewhat relieved smile when he noticed that Dan had almost cleared his plate.

No, certainly not.

~

Dan hadn’t meant to take on so many projects at once. But everything was just falling into place when it hadn’t for so long. Ninja Sex Party is finally clawing its way out of the red, he’s happy with the work he’s been doing on Steam Train and Game Grumps, and life in general is just so awesome, and he’s thankful every day that he gets to do what he loves. Not everyone has that privilege, and he never loses sight of that.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when everything started to get out of hand. Suddenly, Starbomb is a thing, and there’s an album-worth of songs to write, and, obviously, that falls upon the writer in the group. And there’s Ninja Sex Party to think about still. He’ll never stop thinking up ideas for his baby. And then of course, there’s Steam Train recordings and Game Grumps recordings, and Guild Grumps, and Dan starts losing sleep.

He’s tired. And being overtired leads to stress, which leads to anxiety. And it leaves him feeling lightheaded when he rushes to stand up, but that’s fine, because he’s just tired. It’s fine, because this is important. Starbomb is important, Guild Grumps, Game Grumps, Steam Train…

And when his hands start shaking, well, that’s okay, he’s just jittery from all the caffeine he’s been drinking. Bowl of cereal that got soggy while he was writing, so he does the dishes as he thinks, because who the hell likes soggy cereal? It’s fine, this is fine, because this is important. Startrain, Guild Game, Steam Grumps.

He’s dizzy. Fuck, why is he dizzy? The words on the page seem to fly up at him. His nice toasted English muffin is cold now. He turns up his nose at it and throws it away, because who the hell eats cold English muffins? We bought too many games, hey I’m Grump, so all aboard the and we’re the Game Grumps.

“Dan?”

Steambomb, Grumps Train, Star Guild.

“Dan?”

“I’m cool, I’m cool.” Dan bats his arm vaguely in the direction of the voice. His vision’s a bit blurry. Did he forget to put his contacts in today? “Where the hell are my glasses?” He mumbles, mostly to himself.

“What are you talking about?” The voice sounds concerned. He should know the name that belongs to that voice, the name of the man with the upturned nose and scratchy beard and blonde streak in brown hair.

“…Arin?” Dan’s mouth is dry and he tries to wet his lips. Everything’s in focus now, but the light’s too bright, and his head fucking hurts. Weakly, he lifts his arm to rest over his eyes. It’s dark here. Much better.

“Yeah, man. Come on, let’s get you to the couch.”

Fuck, what are they recording today? He’s totally forgotten. “What are we playing today, Ar?” He asks. His voice sounds weird to his ears, oddly distant. He tries to move, but his legs won’t respond.

“Not that couch, you idiot.” Arin sounds annoyed, but…also not? It’s fond annoyance, like Dan’s being ridiculously good at a video game and somehow beating Arin.

Arms are grabbing him. Arin is supporting him, moving his body off the floor. What? Did he fall? When did that happen? He doesn’t remember. Everything is hazy, like he’s dreaming. Like he’s high.

Is he high? Danny’s heart starts beating faster. “No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening. Oh my God…” No, he’s been clean! He hasn’t touched weed in…well, he can’t remember, but it’s been a super long time! Hasn’t it? Well, he supposes if he started again, it hasn’t. 

“What can’t be happening?” Arin has set him down on the couch now, the one that’s in the main room at the Grump space, where they film Guild Grumps. He kneels in front of Dan, oblivious to Dan’s internal panic.

“Who gave me weed?” Okay, it’s external now.

Arin must see him start to hyperventilate, because he takes Dan’s hand and starts drawing gentle circles on it with his thumb. “No one did, Dan. Don’t worry.” His voice is calm, and Dan can focus on the circles Arin is drawing on his hand.

There’s silence for a while, and once Dan is calm, Arin speaks again: “Do you remember what happened?”

“I…” Danny closes his eyes briefly. His eyes burn with exhaustion, and, suddenly, he wants to fall asleep. But he can feel Arin squeeze his knee. This is important.

Fuck, this is so important. Starbomb, Guild Grumps, Steam Train, Game Grumps.

“I wrote songs for the album,” is what he chooses to say, his eyes watching Arin. He’s having trouble reading his best friend right now. Are the lines on his face worry or disappointment? Danny knows he hasn’t been doing enough, doing as much as he should. He feels lost, even outside the virtual world of Warcraft. 

He starts trying to apologize, but Arin interrupts him. “That’s good, Daniel. Very good.” 

It reminds Dan of being a kid in school for some reason.

“Do you remember anything before you passed out?”

Wait.

Danny gives himself a moment to take that in. He’d…passed out? At the Grump Space? Who saw?

“It’s just us here,” Arin says. Dan’s breathing must’ve picked up again. “You didn’t want to come to lunch, and I was gonna catch up with the others, but then I heard you fall.” Arin’s eyes are soft and sad. He’s clearly worried. “Dan…shit, man, you don’t weigh anything. Are you okay?”

Dan offers a watery chuckle. No, he’s not okay, but Arin never changes, always worried about his eating habits. 

“Dan?” Arin waits, then slides up to sit beside Dan on the couch. “You’re not okay…are you?”

Dan breaks down right then. He starts crying, and fuck it, he should be ashamed of himself, but he’s just so tired and he feels so weak that the tears and sobs just come. Dan’s a quiet crier, of course, but he still clings to Arin like a child, just crying, and Arin holds him tight, not caring about “no homo,” just providing comfort. He whispers soothing words, telling Dan that it’s okay, that he’s here, that it’s fine.

Slowly, Dan starts to believe him. And as the words sink in, his sobs fade, until he’s breathing almost normally. Just as Dan is about to say something, to thank Arin, the younger man’s cell phone rings. He reaches into his pocket to check the caller I.D. 

“It’s Suzy,” he says before picking up. Dan can’t hear Suzy, but Arin’s face is thinking. “Yeah, I’m okay, Suze. I’m with Dan, back at the Grump Space.” A beat. “No, he’s not feeling well. I’m gonna take him home. I’ll meet up with you guys later.” He smiles. “Love you too.” Then, the call is over. “She says that she hopes you feel better.”

Dan chuckles, his voice hoarse from crying. “Thank her for me, will ya?”

Arin nods. “Come on, Daniel Avidaniel. Let’s get you home.”

The car ride is quiet. The windows are open, and KPop is coming from Arin’s speakers. 

They’re stopped at a red light, in front of a little bakery. The smell of fresh-baked bread is intoxicating, and Dan groans. Suddenly, he’s hungry. No, he’s ravenous. He can’t remember the last time he had anything to eat, and everything right now appeals to his horribly empty stomach.

Arin notices immediately and turns to him. “Hungry?”

“I’m starving,” Dan replies weakly. God, he really is. Bread has him thinking about sandwiches. Yeah. A big old industrial-sized sandwich. That would taste so good… His stomach practically groans, and it fucking hurts, making him wince and shift uncomfortably.

Arin speeds the rest of the way to Dan’s house. 

Later, Danny is fast asleep, belly full of soup. He wakes up to a text from Arin, reminding him to eat breakfast before he leaves the house, and also informing him of his resignation from Guild Grumps.

Dan chows down happily on a nice big bowl of Cheerios and leaves for the day with a happy tummy.

~

It’s a game that isn’t really a game.

It’s a game because it’s kind of fun, but it’s not a game, because it feels serious.

Dan has to earn Arin’s trust again.

Well…that’s not entirely accurate. Dan has to eat enough so that Arin won’t worry about him.

Recovery is a pain. Dan doesn’t have an eating disorder. Really, he doesn’t. He loves food. Food is fucking amazing, especially truly memorable meals that taste so good that you remember them for years.

Luckily, Japan helps. Dan didn’t think he was going to eat a lot once he got there, because even though he loves Japanese food, the portions are quite small. But Arin was right after all. The food there is good. Better than good.

It’s like a drug. And Dan should know.

“Oh, God, I’m so fuckin full,” Dan half-groans, half-laughs as the group meanders back to the hotel. They’ve just finished up dinner at a truly spectacular street food place, and Dan can still taste the fried rice on his tongue.

“Told ya it was gonna be great,” Arin claps him firmly on the shoulder, making Dan jolt forward. 

The older man is about to playfully scold Arin, but there is such a relieved warmth and a complete look of satisfaction on his best friend’s face that the words die on his tongue.

He doesn’t even care that, a split second later, Ross is elbowing him right in his stuffed gut, teasing him about his failure to come up with a suitable comeback.

~

Danny is so fucking hungry right now. 

To be fair, they’re smack-dab in the middle of a recording session, and breakfast was too long ago. 

Dan also blames the fact that he went for a swim this morning. Swimming, and exercise in general, always makes him hungry.

But Arin had a big breakfast, because he’d been working out, too. So he won’t be hungry for another half hour or so. Danny doesn’t want to stop recording, because they’ve finally hit their stride after eight or so episodes of this game, and Arin’s in the zone. But he can’t help drawing attention to his empty stomach.

“They were ghosts that looked like they could be a marshmallow in a bag of Lucky Charms.” He says, casually inserting the comparison into their conversation. He’s already mentioned “gravy,” but Arin dismissed that pretty quickly.

This time, though… “That just makes me want Lucky Charms.”

“Me too, my friend.” Dan runs a hand through his hair, and they go back to chatting about imaginary brand deals.

In fact, Danny almost forgets he’s hungry. He’s able to distract himself when Arin starts talking about the game. But his stomach, which has been feeling swirly since the end of the last episode, has other ideas.

Arin’s doing a silly voice: “From sun to moon, moon to sun.”

“Errrrrrrr…” It’s unfortunate because of the way he’s sprawled that Danny’s chest is about level with the mic because, sure enough, there it is on the wavelength.

Man, Dan thinks, blushing slightly in embarrassment, whoever edits this later will have fun trying to figure out what that sound was.

But Arin seems not to have noticed. “Give peaceful rest to the living dead.”

Dan can’t figure out why he’s upset that Arin didn’t notice. He covers his insecurities with laughter and moves on.

~

It’s four episodes later, and Danny is practically starving. He’d felt his performance lacking during the last few sessions, and he doesn’t think he can sit through another one feeling like all his jokes are falling flat, his laughter echoing against the deep recesses of his empty stomach.

When Arin announced that he had to go to the bathroom at the end of the last episode, Danny thought that this was his chance. He could quickly grab a handful of pretzels or cereal, enough to energize him for the next episode, and be back before Arin returned. But, for some reason, Dan’s limbs were not being responsive. They just wanted to stay glued to the fucking couch.

As if to remind him of his intentions, his belly rumbles up at him, clearly displeased at the lack of food entering it. Dan slides his hand down his chest, resting it over his belly button and drumming his fingers restlessly against the flat plane. Finally, he decides that he’s going to get up, but, just then, the door to the recording room opens, and Danny sighs deeply, taking a deep breath to try and fill his stomach with air to calm it down.

“Hey, Arin,” he greets, smiling in welcome. “Ready to get back to Ocarina?”

“Not yet,” Arin smirks. “Think fast.” He tosses something round and red in Dan’s direction.

“Shit!” Dan exclaims, scrambling to catch the object. His big hands close around it before he can get a good look at it. It’s smooth and slightly damp, and not as round as he thought. And it smells…crisp? He holds it up to the light. “An apple?” He cocks his head at Arin in question.

“Don’t think that I didn’t hear your stomach, Daniel,” Arin scolds, tsking playfully as he sits down on the couch heavily and refers to the walkthrough on his phone. “Eat up. We’ve got ten more episodes to do today, and at least three before lunchtime.”

Dan hungrily wets his lips and chomps eagerly into the apple, moaning in almost orgasmic pleasure at the crisp, sweet taste. “Oh, God, this is good!”

“Glad you like it.” Arin beamed at him. “Suzy found em at a farmer’s market. They taste like fucking candy.”

“Mmmm…” Dan sits back against the couch as he swallows. His stomach seems to sigh in relief as the food arrives there safe and sound, and he can’t help patting his tummy in contentment. “Thanks, man. I was starting to feel pretty shitty.”

“Yeah. I’ve noticed that when you start to get desperate for food, you get really quiet.” Arin sits back and looks up at him, his brown eyes soft. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop. I should’ve. It was selfish of me.”

“Nah, man,” Danny pats Arin’s thigh. “I’m fine. I think it’s ‘cause I worked out this morning, honestly.”

Arin smirks, placing his hand over Dan’s. “Can’t handle the heat, huh, Daniel?”

Dan laced their fingers together without hesitation. “I don’t need to, as long as you’re there to take care of me, Big Cat.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a food kinkster. I'm so sorry if this isn't your thing. *hides in shame*
> 
> I just needed a little bit of Arin caring for Danny, okay? Indulge me, please.
> 
> If you like it, PUNCH THAT KUDOS BUTTON IN THE FACE LIKE A BOSS! :3
> 
> Episodes mentioned: Windwaker Part 22 and Ocarina of Time Part 8, in case you want to see any of that kinky goodness for yourself ;) I won't judge ;) ;) ;)


End file.
